


is this coincidence or a sign

by shrdmdnssftw, snuffleslove



Series: stop making plans, start making sense [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 05:23:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/807764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrdmdnssftw/pseuds/shrdmdnssftw, https://archiveofourown.org/users/snuffleslove/pseuds/snuffleslove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>There’s a moment where it’s as if everything has gone silent, but then Liam makes a sort of half-choked noise and Zayn turns to Louis, coughs to clear his throat.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Uh, Lou,” he starts, voice tentative. “I think you’ve got it wrong here- uh, Liam and I aren’t- we haven’t- we aren’t dating.” </i>
</p>
<p>Or, a high school AU where Zayn and Liam aren't dating, and then don't go on a date, before finally getting things together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	is this coincidence or a sign

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a while in the making, and began as a series of comments on [the first fic](http://shrdmdnssftw.livejournal.com/21595.html). How it ended up being longer than the first one, I'll never know.
> 
> (I'm grateful to have written this with [snuffleslove](http://snuffleslove.livejournal.com/), who is much too nice to me, and a brilliant writer, and an amazing friend. I'd also like to thank [badjujuboo](http://badjujuboo.livejournal.com/) for pressing on us to actually finish this fic, properly. For real.)
> 
> Also on [LJ](http://shrdmdnssftw.livejournal.com/23497.html).

It’s not that Louis thinks that his friends are completely oblivious, more that he’s not sure how they can ignore what’s _right_ in front of them. It might have something to do with the fact that he’s finally in a stable relationship but suddenly Louis’ much more concerned that Liam and Zayn have been dancing around this, this _thing_ , for months now.

It’s Louis’ concern that actually leads to the two of them finally facing up to their situation, mostly because during one of their many lunches together, he asks when the four of them (plus Niall) will finally go on a double date. 

“Wait,” Harry says, “does it really count as a double date when we hang out all the time anyway?”

“I-” Louis starts, but then Niall butts in, asks  “Does a double date mean that _I_ can’t bring anyone?”

It’s then, of course, that Liam finally catches up with the conversation, looks back on what they’ve all said, and squeaks out, “wait, a double date?”

“Yes, Liam,” Louis sighs, “a double date. You know, what you do when there are two couples that know each other and want to spend time grossly staring at each other across a table?”

There’s a moment where it’s as if everything has gone silent, but then Liam makes a sort of half-choked noise and Zayn turns to Louis, coughs to clear his throat.

“Uh, Lou,” he starts, voice tentative. “I think you’ve got it wrong here- uh, Liam and I aren’t- we haven’t- we aren’t dating.” 

At his words, Niall shrugs, turns to look at Harry who’s got a confused expression on his face, still not quite used to the group’s dynamic. To Harry’s right, Louis’ not taking it nearly as well.

“You’re _not_?” he cries, and Zayn would feel guilty, but Louis’ always been prone to overdramatics. “My entire life is a lie now! How can I go on, knowing that two such beautiful faces have never touched - that you’ve never even made out!”

He throws his arms out, pointing to the two of them, acting like it’s a personal outrage. “Or that,” and he takes a breath, “you’ve never looked longingly into each others’ eyes, waiting for that moment when you can be alone.”

Harry swears he hears Zayn mutter, _never said we haven’t made out_ , but Liam makes another sound, more distressed this time and Harry figures it’s the least he can do to shut Louis up with a kiss. 

-

That’s hardly the end of it, though, and Louis practically preens when Liam shows up on his doorstep that weekend.

“Well, fancy seeing you here,” Louis says. “I would’ve thought you’d be too busy pining after Zayn to hang around much.”

Liam responds with a groan, collapsing onto Louis’ bed like usual. Mumbling into the pillow, Louis hears Liam say a _fuck you_ , before rolling over to look him in the eye.

“No, seriously,” Liam continues. “Fuck you and your big mouth.”

Louis hops onto the bed as well, clambers over Liam until they’re pressed side by side and he knows there’s no hard feelings by the way that Liam lets him. He can feel the tickle of Liam’s voice, low against his neck and knows that what he’s saying is important.

“I can’t stop thinking about him, but he’s _Zayn,_ and I. Like, I love him, and I think I’m _in love_ with him. Fuck, Louis, I’m in love with him, what do I _do_?” 

He pauses.

“And fuck, what if he doesn’t like me back? It’ll ruin everything, and he didn’t like that you thought we were dating, right? He sounded weirded out and upset?” Liam stops to take a deep breath. “God, what if- if he thinks I’m just a tryhard loser who likes Batman and doesn’t know how to have fun?”

Louis kind of shrugs as best he can, because he knows Zayn likes Liam back, has caught the way that Zayn stares at him like he holds the world in the palm of his hand, and he opens his mouth to point out to Liam that, uh, duh, Zayn likes Batman too.

Before he can say anything, though, Lottie knocks on the door and opens it, telling Louis that, “hey, Mum wants you dinn-”

and, “oh, hi, Liam. What's up?”

Liam lifts his head enough to smile wordlessly at Lottie, then flops back down onto Louis’ bed and waits for his friend to deal with explaining.

Getting up, Louis ruffles her hair, and says with a smile, “just some boy problems, you know?”

Through his embarrassment, Liam manages to catch Lottie’s matching smirk. “Is it about Zayn then?” She turns to lock eyes with Liam. “Have you two finally snogged?”

Liam sits up so quickly, Louis thinks he might have had a heart attack, and Louis grins wider. “We’re getting there, Lottie, calm down.”

“Sure you are,” is all she says in reply. “Dinner, Lou, and make sure Liam stays too.”

There’s the sound of Lottie scampering away and it’s not Louis’ coaxed Liam downstairs and sat with him through dinner that the red in his face goes down. It doesn’t change the fact that normally chatty and polite Liam doesn’t say two words to the girls all night, or that Louis and Lottie keep sniggering to each other, or that it’s possibly the most awkward meal of Liam’s life so far.

-

Admittedly, Lottie’s a lot nicer about the whole situation that Louis is. Before he leaves, she corners him in the entranceway, taking advantage of Louis’ distraction in texting Harry.

"It'll be alright, you know," she says sincerely.

"It will?" Liam asks, and Lottie nods.

"It will. You two've been gone for each other for ages, from what Lou's told me. And besides, he'd be stupid not to like you, Liam."

Liam wonders where she's getting all this from, and wants to ask her, but before he can, she pushes him out the door, forcefully, and says, "sort yourself out, yeah? Then send pictures when you and Zayn get it together."

Then the door shuts in his face and Liam's left outside, a bit bewildered and a bit lost in thought. He hasn’t walked three steps away from Louis’ door when his phone beeps, and it's none other than Zayn. Liam’s too nervous to _not_ open the text, reads quickly, _i just got a call from a restaurant & they said weve got reservations for fri?_

And Liam presses the reply button, types worriedly, _i didnt book anythng i swear_ and spends a good few seconds freaking the fuck out before another text beeps through, from Louis this time.

_hav fun, xx lottie and louis_ Liam reads and it’s all he can do to not go back inside and talk to Louis, because they really _are_ the most meddlesome family. He doesn't, because it’s possible that he doesn’t always mind.

He forces himself to walk away, knows it’s best if he just heads straight home. Once he’s seated in his car though, he can’t help fish his phone out again, thumbs his fingers over the keypad of his phone for a second before typing out a text rapidly.

_it's uh. it was louis. do you wanna go or..? i mean we don't have to go it's probably a stupid idea right?_

Zayn texts back a second later, before Liam has time to do anything but put his key in the ignition.

_it's just dinner, li, we have dinner all the time. why would it be a stupid idea?_

Dropping his head to the steering wheel of his car miserably, Liam tries not to feel too hurt, because of course it's just dinner, what was he thinking? 

_right, of course. pick you up at 7?_ Liam manages to write, and he promises himself he’ll only wait a short while for Zayn’s reply.

Five minutes later, a _see you then xx_ beeps through, and of course zayn would be all cool and nonchalant about this. Zayn has gone on about a million dates before Liam and this _isn't even a date_ and so naturally _he’s_ fine and bloody hell, Liam is fucked. 

-

“You’re definitely treating it like a date,” Niall says accusingly, while Liam tries to sort out what to wear.

He curses under his breath - Louis broke his bottle of cologne last time he was over, when their play fighting had gotten out of hand, and he’d completely forgotten to buy more. And Zayn is probably going to smell really good because he’s Zayn and Liam can’t even find a _shirt_.

Niall munches loudly on some crisps, swirling around on Liam’s desk chair, trying every so often to throw one up and catch it with his mouth. Most of them end up on the floor.

“It is a date though,” Liam defends. “I mean, at least Louis meant it to be. Zayn doesn’t think it’s a date because he doesn’t _want_ it to be a date.”

Niall's expression goes from _you’re slightly obtuse_ to _you’re so thick, I’m sceptical about how you function daily._ He goes up to where Liam's pacing and places warm hands on his hips, turns him around to steeple their foreheads together.

“Breathe,” he orders, then takes a step back to give Liam a warning look. “If you make fun of me for this later, I'll fart on your pillows.”

Liam shakes his head in agreement frantically so Niall sighs.

“Wear those jeans, the one with the rip in them right above the knee? And the black tee that looks like it shrunk in the wash like six times over. And that cardigan with the light stripes, yeah?”

Liam breathes a heavy sigh of relief. “Thanks,” he mumbles, fishing for the clothes.

Niall crashes down onto Liam’s bed, eyes rolling to the ceiling before falling shut.

“And when you sort yourselves out,” he says, “well, pics or it didn't happen.”

-

The thing is, Zayn _doesn’t_ think it’s a date.

Mainly because he can’t see why Liam would _want_ to date him. He’s sort of a massive dork, lanky and not all that sporty, and pretty much the opposite of every girl that Liam’s ever dated. _And_ the fact stands that Liam’s only ever dated girls.

When he tells Danny this, sat together on his bed, still silent after the call from the restaurant, Danny’s not really sure how to respond. Zayn doesn't usually have these moments of self-doubt, since most of the time, he just pines. So instead of saying anything, Danny grabs his phone and texts Liam. He knows the way that Zayn types well enough to pull it off, and after a few minutes of texting, tosses the phone back to Zayn.

“Here,” he says, pushing himself up off Zayn’s bed. “Now sort your shit out on Friday.”

Zayn’s grateful for whatever it is that Danny’s done, and remains that way until Friday rolls around and he has the mind to actually look through his sent texts. It’s then that he kind of freaks because Liam’s _said_ it’s a stupid idea and that means he probably shouldn’t go, except that Liam will still come to pick him up in 15 minutes and he still hasn't dressed further than pulling on those black jeans that he _knows_ make him look taller, and so he does what he always does when he's freaking out, and calls Danny.

Ant picks up, and they're clearly in the middle of a game, COD or Halo or some shit that Zayn's too distracted to think about right now. Naturally, Ant knows about the dinner, and when he picks up, he's teases, "Ready for the big night?"

Underneath the humour, Zayn can hear the genuine curiosity and is reminded with a jolt that Ant and Danny actually _care_ about him. It makes him a little more responsive, and he groans, putting the phone on loudspeaker as he searches through his clothes for something, _anything_.

“I feel like I’m going to die, I don’t know what to wear or even know why I said yes; please let me pretend I’m sick.”

Ant waits until Zayn’s run out of steam then says, lightly, “you know if you say you’re sick, he’s just gonna insist he come in and look after you, right?”

“Crap,” Zayn replies, realising the truth in what Ant’s saying.

“Seriously, if that doesn't say something about how he feels about you-"

And then he's cut off, Danny picking up the phone to talk to Zayn.

"Wear something nice. But not too nice, or he'll think you're trying to impress him."

Head halfway inside his wardrobe, he yells, "I _am_ " in the general direction of the phone.

"Well, then," Danny says, "wear whatever the fuck you want. You're a good guy, Zayn, and Liam's crazy if he thinks you're not."

- 

Liam feels like he’s got _creatures_ living in his stomach when he goes to pick Zayn up that night, but the thing is, he _knows_ Zayn. Not just the kid who’s sat across from him in homeroom for the past few years. No, he knows Zayn like someone he’s studied, someone he can’t help but watch like there’s no one else in the room, even before he knew what that really meant. He knows Zayn, so he can tell that the Zayn who clambers into his car, whose voice breaks in the middle of a mumbled _hey_ like he’s fourteen again, isn’t a weirded out Zayn or a disinterested one. He’s a _nervous_ Zayn.

And that fills Liam with a rush of giddiness, makes him want to start blabbering nonsense, "god are you nervous, I'm nervous too, don't worry. It's ok, we're both nervous but we'll be fine." Instead of saying any of it, he bites his tongue, turns up the radio and hums a harmony to Ne-Yo’s latest, glad for the darkness that hides his smirk at Zayn's sharp intake of breath.

“Hear the restaurant’s pretty good,” he mentions when an ad comes on.

“Lou’s pick though,” says Zayn, wrinkling his nose.

“True,” Liam agrees, “but Louis’ dating Harry now, and he’s got reliable taste, hasn’t he?”

“Suppose so,” Zayn nods, smiling slightly, settling into the white noise of the radio and the road below them.

When they get there, Liam parks, and in a moment of quick thinking, only unlocks his door to get out. By the time Zayn’s had a chance to fumble at his own door, Liam’s come ‘round the car to open it for him. Zayn ducks his head and _blushes_ and Liam wants to jump into the air.

He thinks it might be too soon to make a grab for Zayn's hand, even though he _wants_ , wants to interlace their fingers and rub his thumb against the rough of Zayn's skin, see what reaction that whisper of a movement pulls from him. He settles for a hand at the small of Zayn’s back, and opens the door for him on the way in, leaves it there as they approach the waitress.

“Um, reservation for Louis? Or Liam,” Zayn adds as an afterthought.

While the waitress scans her book and leads them to a table, Liam takes the time to appreciate the subtle extra care Zayn's put in to get ready tonight - his favorite black jeans, and a black shirt that's actually tucked in, topped with a gray cardigan that Liam's probably nicked a fair few times.

“What?” Zayn asks almost carefully, _nervously_ , and Liam has the manners to blush at being caught staring, even if inside he wants to high five himself because _he_ makes Zayn - cool, mysterious Zayn Malik - nervous.

“You look really good tonight,” Liam tells him, unashamedly, and Zayn blushes _again_ and this time, in the restaurant light, Liam can see the flare of color on his cheeks and he wants to cup cool hands around his face, feel the heated skin there.

“I, uh,” Zayn stammers, and Liam wants to roll his eyes because how can Zayn not know he’s gorgeous. “Thanks,” he settles on finally, “you too.”

-

It’s the awkward small talk that eventually gets to Liam. They can’t talk about their personal lives because they already know everything there _is_ about the other. Sometimes Liam feels like he knows Zayn’s life more than he knows his own, can feel all the places that Zayn's words have slipped into his mind, under chinks of armour and hit him where he can feel it most and -

Liam can't just sit and pretend that he's not thinking about kissing Zayn right now, not thinking about how, if he had more courage or less nerves, he would do exactly that. 

On the other side of the table, Zayn’s not saying much, and when he does, it’s in short bursts, and so they end up in this pattern of a few minutes silence, then both talking at once, then scrambling to apologise about it.

And Liam can’t help but nervously laugh every now and again because it's fucking weird, okay. He's thought about this too much, and it's not a date, it's not. But there's a candle on the table, and their waitress looked at them like it was a date, and he opened Zayn's door for him, because he clearly _wasn’t thinking_. He wants to curse himself out for doing it, wants to curse Louis for organising this because _it’s_ not _a date_.

Except then he sees Zayn staring into his pasta, looking like he doesn't want to be here at all, and Liam catches his eye, and realises that it's not that he doesn't want to be with _Liam_ , just that-

It's weird, and it's awkward, and it's nothing like the ease that comes from just the two of them hanging out in Zayn's room, or studying in the library, or even when Zayn hitches a ride in Liam's car. It's not how they usually act around one another because there's still something in the air, and the look in Zayn's eye is enough to give Liam a little push.

He leans forward over the table, a little awkwardly, moves himself just enough that he can press a kiss to Zayn's cheek, except at the last moment, Zayn turns his head to see what Liam's doing, and his lips catch on the side of Zayn's mouth, then they're kissing for real, Liam moving to get closer, and opening his lips slightly to the press of Zayn's tongue.

It's comfortable and warm and unlike any kiss Liam's ever had before, something familiar about the slide of their tongues and Zayn's thumb on the arch of his cheek. There's that rush of giddiness again, like Liam's falling falling but he's still safe, like he knows there's paradise waiting at the end of the drop.

They only break away when Zayn's elbow ends up dangerously close to a meatball and it's then that they hear the catcalls. Zayn's blushing again and god, if Liam could paint he would want this picture on a canvas the size of his entire bedroom wall.

“You- really?” Zayn asks, eyes shy and warm and _young_ and Liam wants to laugh for days, wants to lick at the corner of his mouth and kiss the tops of his eyelids.

“Yeah,” he chokes out instead.

“Fuck, can we, can we get out of here?” Zayn asks, and Liam’s paying before he can argue, leaving a ridiculous tip and practically yanking Zayn out of his chair.

“Really?” Zayn presses as they exit the restaurant. Liam stops short in front of him, wraps an arm at his waist and dips him back to slide their lips together, Zayn's slight frame trembling with the suddenness of it. His agreement is mumbled into the heat of Zayn's mouth, tasted on the back of his tongue.

“Really?” Zayn asks one last time, tone exasperated, nose wrinkled, when Liam finally lets him back up. Liam cuffs him on the back of his neck, laces their fingers together.

“ _Really_.”

-

Liam drives Zayn home and walks him up to his door and the two of them end up standing there awkwardly for a little while because, well. As much as he wants an invitation inside, he knows he'll have to get passed Zayn's parents, have to explain something along the lines of why he and Zayn now go out on dates (ignoring the fact that they'd probably already figured it out).

Zayn wants him to come in anyway, wants to bring Liam into his room and kiss him stupid, because now he _can_. Liam just kind of just stalls on the front steps, not moving, and he's locked his car doors, and Zayn is looking down at Liam, for once their height differences reversed. And he can't help himself, Zayn pulls Liam in for another kiss, this one held longer than at the restaurant, pulls him in and he can feel how soft Liam's shirt is under his hands, feel the warmth of Liam seeping through the fabric.

It's kind of overwhelming, the way that every sense is being filled, eyes shut against the sight, but the taste and smell that is distinctly _him_ filling Zayn's lungs.

Zayn decides that Liam’s coming in anyway, pulls him in and they sneak past the living room and into Zayn’s room. He halts in his doorway, lets Liam in first, and shuts the door quietly behind them, toeing off his shoes in the same moment. Liam's too busy eyeing his bed to notice, thinking about how _here's_ where they watched their first superhero movie together, curled up against the headboard sharing Zayn's laptop on their thighs. Where they shared in hushed voices about first kisses and _Molly let me get to second base_. Where they whispered quietly about Zayn's painting and Liam's running and escaping to the big city, just the two of them, and their dreams for living as if afraid to frighten the possibilities away. And now.

Liam turns back to Zayn who's watching him, a small smile spread across his face. And there's no uncertainty anymore, no nerves. He's back to being Liam's Zayn again, settled in his limbs and comfortable in his own skin and when he crosses the room to him, closes the space between them, Liam can't help but take a sharp breath, try to fill his lungs.

“Zayn,” he breathes out, pressing hands to his waist and a nose to his neck. “I know we haven’t really. I mean, we haven’t even _started_ but, fuck, I love you.”

Zayn pulls away, eyes dark and serious and intense and this is why Liam can tell him anything, can even tell him three words that any sensible person would tuck away until they'd actually gotten the hang of being together, or maybe gone on a few dates. But Liam knows he hasn't scared him away, knows it in the way Zayn’s grip tightens in Liam’s shirt.

“I love you too, Li,” Zayn responds after a moment, kissing him sweetly. “I can’t believe I get to-”

“Me neither,” Liam almost scolds because the idea that they could have been doing this ages ago if Zayn had just said something, if _he_ ’ _d_ maybe talked to Zayn, it makes Liam want to curse the fucking sun and the moon.

Zayn seems to be thinking along the same lines because the corner of his mouth crooks up in a dirty smirk, one that goes straight to the pit of Liam's stomach.

“Oh, don’t worry, babe. I’ll make sure we make up for lost time.”

-

Liam feels like he might melt at that, at Zayn’s word and at his touch, the way that they’re already familiar with being in each other's space. It's a natural transition to go from standing in front of one another, to Zayn pressing Liam up against the door, all of his weight pushed up against Liam's torso and his mouth-

His mouth melding to the shape of Liam's, pressing against his plush lower lip, and teeth nipping at it. Zayn kisses like his heart is on fire, and Liam can smother it out, like passion is poison, and Liam's tongue is the cure. Zayn kisses with his mouth and his body and his heart, throws himself into it and Liam can feel every press of skin, every nerve ending on fire.

Liam's not one to keep still either, not when he finally can touch, feel the way Zayn's body doesn't fold under his, but presses back. When Liam drags his hands up the expanse of Zayn's back, he can feel Zayn react to the touch, kisses more frantic, press of body against body.

It almost seems wrong, that they're doing this here, in spaces already filled with him and Zayn and memories in between, that they might erase what they've already had. But Liam thinks that if these are the moments that will replace them, _himandZayn_ and the ways that they're moving now, Liam walking Zayn backwards towards the bed, until his knees hit the mattress, Liam thinks that maybe those will better fit the places in between sheets and skin.


End file.
